Dollar dips as yen heads for first weekly drop in six
Updates at 1851 GMT
By Hannah Lang
NEW YORK, Aug 9 (Reuters) -The dollar was off a one-week high against other major currencies on Friday, capping off a turbulent few days as traders digested a drop in U.S. jobless claims and the prospect of a looming economic downturn.
The U.S. currency was down against the Japanese yen JPY=EBS following a three-day rebound, as Thursday's firmer-than-expected employment data spurred a paring back in bets for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts later this year.
The yen and the Swiss franc - another safe haven currency - hung near one-week lows as major stock markets rose and Treasury yields dipped.
Markets have endured a chaotic week, triggered in large part by surprisingly soft U.S. payrolls figures a week ago that sent global stocks tumbling, while demand for the safety of assets such as the yen and the franc sent those currencies surging to their highest since the start of the year on Monday.
The dollar was last down 0.39% at 146.675 yen JPY=EBS, but still on course for its first weekly rise in six weeks.
"There's been a major desire by market to finally use the yen as a complete source of a safe haven to the chaos and the conflict that's going on around the world," said Juan Perez, director of trading at Monex USA in Washington.
The dollar index =USD, which measures the currency against six others, was down 0.136% at 103.14 following three days of gains.
Against the Swiss franc, it eased 0.18% to 0.865 franc CHF=EBS but still on track for a weekly advance.
"The prospect of having a pure risk-on environment, pro carry for FX, for the second half of this year, is much less interesting given our forecasts are more conservative on the dollar/yen and the euro/Swiss franc," said UBS FX strategist Yvan Berthoux.
"We don't expect more significant unwind to come. The washout has been quite clear in this environment."
Data on Thursday showed the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, calming fears the labour market was unravelling and reinforcing that a gradual softening remains intact.
The odds of the Fed cutting interest rates by 50 basis points at its next policy meeting on Sept. 17-18 fell to 52%, from 69% a day earlier, with a 25 basis point cut now seen as having a 49% probability, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool.
UNWINDING OF SHORT YEN DONE?
The yen had shot higher this month, reaching the strongest since Jan. 2 at 141.675 per dollar on Monday, as an unwinding of short positions snowballed, following a surprise rate hike by the Bank of Japan amid weakness in U.S. economic indicators.
U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission figures will give a clearer indication later on Friday of the extent of yen buying that has taken place.
The euro EUR=EBS was flat at $1.0919, but little changed compared with a week ago. On Monday, it rose as high as $1.1009 for the first time since Jan. 2.
Sterling GBP=D3 rose to $1.2756, after a 0.5% rally overnight that yanked it back from a more than one-month low.
The Aussie AUD=D4 slipped 0.29% to $0.657, while the New Zealand dollar NZD=D3 reached a three-week high of $0.6035 before retreating. It was last at 0.5998.
World FX rates https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E
Reporting by Hannah Lang in New York; additional reporting by Kevin Buckland in Tokyo and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Miral Fahmy and Jonathan Oatis
Actifs liés
Dernières actualités
Avertissement : Les entités de XM Group proposent à notre plateforme de trading en ligne un service d'exécution uniquement, autorisant une personne à consulter et/ou à utiliser le contenu disponible sur ou via le site internet, qui n'a pas pour but de modifier ou d'élargir cette situation. De tels accès et utilisation sont toujours soumis aux : (i) Conditions générales ; (ii) Avertissements sur les risques et (iii) Avertissement complet. Un tel contenu n'est par conséquent fourni que pour information générale. En particulier, sachez que les contenus de notre plateforme de trading en ligne ne sont ni une sollicitation ni une offre de participation à toute transaction sur les marchés financiers. Le trading sur les marchés financiers implique un niveau significatif de risques pour votre capital.
Tout le matériel publié dans notre Centre de trading en ligne est destiné à des fins de formation / d'information uniquement et ne contient pas – et ne doit pas être considéré comme contenant – des conseils et recommandations en matière de finance, de fiscalité des investissements ou de trading, ou un enregistrement de nos prix de trading ou une offre, une sollicitation, une transaction à propos de tout instrument financier ou bien des promotions financières non sollicitées à votre égard.
Tout contenu tiers, de même que le contenu préparé par XM, tels que les opinions, actualités, études, analyses, prix, autres informations ou liens vers des sites tiers contenus sur ce site internet sont fournis "tels quels", comme commentaires généraux sur le marché et ne constituent pas des conseils en investissement. Dans la mesure où tout contenu est considéré comme de la recherche en investissement, vous devez noter et accepter que le contenu n'a pas été conçu ni préparé conformément aux exigences légales visant à promouvoir l'indépendance de la recherche en investissement et, en tant que tel, il serait considéré comme une communication marketing selon les lois et réglementations applicables. Veuillez vous assurer que vous avez lu et compris notre Avis sur la recherche en investissement non indépendante et notre avertissement sur les risques concernant les informations susdites, qui peuvent consultés ici.
